The Epic Part One
NEW!
Drawn from thirty years of teaching Great Books,
this course surveys six early stages of the epic: 1) epics
of warfare (Iliad, Aeneid, Mahabharata); 2) heroic
slaying of cultural monsters (Beowulf, Germanic
sagas); 3) homecoming or pilgrimage epics (Odyssey,
Aeneid, Divine Comedy); 4) chivalric romance epics
(Lancelot, Perceval, Morte Darthur, Orlando Furioso,
Faerie Queen); 5) mock-epics (Don Quixote, Gulliver's
Travels, Rape of the Lock, Candide); and 6) encyclopedic
moral-spiritual epics (Paradise Lost, Faust,
Vala, Prelude). For each work, a summary and outline
including date, cultural era and ideals, heroic avatars,
and plot structure will be given. NOTE: In spring of
2020 "The Epic, Part 2" will survey the greatest works
of modern times in novels & films.)
Required Material
NONE. Summaries will be provided in advance. Brushing up on some works and adding to a lively discussion is highly encouraged. We will question what values changed the epic and its heroic avatars.
Suggested Reading
ALL OPTIONAL: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Carole Satyamurti's trans. of Mahabharata (esp. "Song of the Lord"); Beowulf; Dante's Divine Comedy; Chretien's Lancelot & Perceval, Malory's Morte Darthur, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, Spenser's Faerie Queene; Cervantes' Don Quixote, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Pope's Rape of the Lock, Voltaire's Candide; Milton's Paradise Lost, Goethe's Faust, Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Vala, Wordsworth's Prelude.
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